Learning Lucca

The past few days have been spent learning Lucca. Ive gotten to learn the roads and how they connect and the shops. I have a "regular" gelato place and I can take certain piazze as references for other places. So, Im making my way. Unlike in America, Italian cities are like huge shopping malls. Everyone walks and rides bikes and the streets were meant for that type of community. There are "supermercato" shops but mostly, the best stuff is found at shops specifically for pasteries or pasta or meat or whatever. People here are very proud of their specializations. For example, many gelato shops are only open in the summer because their product doesnt have as much integrity in the winter. So, in the winter they make other things like waffles. Also, no chocolate is made in Lucca in the summer because of the low quality. The heat affects the chocolate making process. Anyway, many different things combine to give the idea that quality is much more important that quantity.
Last night, we had a special presentation from the owner of the Villa in the center of the town. In many towns in Italy there used to be palios (competitions of a certain sort). Since 1970, there has been a group in Lucca dedicated to the preservation of the history and use of crossbows and palios, and the owner of the Villa pulled a few strings to get them to do a special performance for us. They started in the wall of the town and we had a procession where there were flags and trumpets for us to walk through. We walked into this arena thing outside of the wall and the performers, all in medieval garb, threw flags, played drums and trumpets and even had a duel! It was really thrilling. To make it seem more real, they even had "townspeople" in medieval garb. Then, we left the arena to go see some crossbow shooting. In the competitions, they would shoot this heavy crossbow at a tiny target, and the men we saw had clearly been practicing for years! They were very good. Some of the kids even got to shoot some off. It was really cool to watch them and to see how much skill it really takes. After that, there was a parade which we followed all the way through the streets of Lucca. Traffic stopped for us and the townspeople joined it until we got to the Piazza Amfiteatro where we saw more of the palio show and ate dinner with the actors and performers. It was excellent! What a night.